Feminist approaches and perspectives on gender
The two articles by Reed (1999) troubling boys and disturbing discourses and by Ringrose (2007) gender and education. Both of these articles highlight how gender plays a role in education. For example, it shows how girls outplay boys in exams.
Feminist believe that society is dominated by males as in the past women have been disadvantaged in the society and men had power. In schools girls studied subjects like cookery that helped them to become a good housewife and a mother (Trueman, 2015). Feminist believed that this was wrong and changes were needed. All the feminist theories focused on the differences between men and women and how problems can be solved. Feminist believe that education can help
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Although, cookery is still being taught in schools but it 's aimed at boys and girls. This shows that girls are being treated equally.
In the article by Reed (1999) it shows that there is a massive gap between GCSE grades of girls and boys. For example, in 1995 48.1% girls achieved GCSE grades A*-C whereas 39% boys achieved A*-C grade. This shows how well girls performed in all of the subjects that were aimed at boys. Emotions can affect boys from performing well in their exams. This is because anxiety and stress can affect the way a child thinks, this is why when children often misread the question (Education Scotland, n.d.). This might be the reason why some boys underachieve in exams. This shows that emotions play a role in the way the child learns so to be successful it is important to be in
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They say that there are inequalities in the school curriculum and show that school is like a patriarchal society where there is gender differences when it comes to subject choices (Cook, 2008). Despite girls performing better than boys in their studies they are still experiencing male dominated culture in the classrooms. However, the liberal feminist fight against the patriarchal systems is by establishing legislations like the Equal Rights Amendments that can help girls to be treated equal as boys. Feminist were successful in identifying gender inequalities in education and they were able to make changes to. For example, today there are more women who have achieved higher grades in their GCSE and A-levels compared to the men and more women are off to university than men. However, there is an issue of why boys are underachieving than girls. In the Ringrose article it states that due to cultures like drugs boys might be underachieving as they might not be into education instead they want to be a cool boy. However, Francis argues that not all girls are performing well and not all boys are underachieving (Francis, 2006). In this article it shows that a middle class boy performs better than a working class girl. If boys are underachieving then gender cannot be blamed for it instead there can be other factors that can affect their performance such as ethnicity and class (Curtis & Pettigrew,
Because young boys are more active they often are disciplined, while girls are often quieter and naturally become a teacher’s favorite. This causes problems because classrooms naturally become more attuned to a girl’s style of learning, leaving young boys behind in the classroom from an early age. “Boy Problems” by Ann Hulbert goes into detail over the increasing “gender educational disparity.” Hulbert gives the reader useful information about how and why men are falling behind and the increasing gender differences in education. When fixing a problem one must first realize the problem exists. Now that the problem has come to light, action must be
Sadker, Myra, David Sadker, and Susan Klein. "The Issue of Gender in Elementary and Secondary Education." Review of Research in Education 17 (1991): 269. JSTOR. Web. 14 Mar. 2012.
The story of Inside the World of Boys by William Pollack brings the attention to us that the boys often suffer from low-self esteem, in large part due to “the boy code”, the unspoken rules that compel them to feel they need to hide their emotions and keep them from exposure. In effect, “the boy code” causes the problem of gender gap between boys and girls in academic performances. I choose this essay because I am concerned with how “the boy code” raises the gender gap between boys and girls in their academic performances and how our societies often underestimate all emotional needs of boys. This story is not only a story but also is a research paper of Pollack which is supported by his research results and statistics. The background story of Adam and his personal conversation with his mother make this story so fascinating and touching. It brings a social message to parents, school, and societies.
Gerry Garibaldi, a high school teacher and Michael Kimmel, a professor of sociology both explain how the consequences of the feminism movement are harming boys in school and later in life. Kimmel and Garibaldi present their views on the gender education problems in their articles “How The Schools Shortchange Boys” and “A War Against Boys”. Both make passionate arguments and prove that boys are at a disadvantage in modern feminized classrooms. Kimmel’s arguments about the problems boys face in the American educational system are more convincing than Garibaldi’s, because his style of argumentation is more objective, supported by more statistics, and provides unbiased restatement of opposing views.
Imagine living in a time when your only role is to get married, bear children, and take care of your house and husband. Adrienne Rich proposes an ulterior idea in her essay “Taking Women Students Seriously” Women should not only question the gender standards but discuss the gender norms that society has created; by discussion and attention to the matter we can eliminate it all together. Women are not represented in school curriculums enough and have a large misrepresentation in society. Rich draws attention to: What women have working against them in education, how women are perceived in the world by the media and advertising, and the gender roles that society pressures young children to contort to. By striking up a discussion
Do humans let their gender define their capability to learn? In the “The Gender Gap at School,” David Brooks talks about how “Male reading rates are falling three times as fast as among young women’s” (Brooks 391), because teachers are not providing equal reading interest in both genders. However, gender does not play a role in males capability to succeed in their education for reading. “The problem with gender is that it prescribes how we should be, rather than recognizing how we are” (Adichie).
But in some content we can also held schools liable for nurturing the women when they are girls. In school girls are always well behaved and mannered. They are always rewarded for their good grades and well behaved attitude. But when it comes to boys they are always shown as aggressive in nature. They are often punished for their mischievous attitudes in class which still never let boys stop their naughtiness. But, if girls behaved in the same way as boys they are always reminded about their gender characteristics as soft and being decent by nature.. As in the article ‘’The Confidence Gap ‘’ the writer mention us that “Girls seem to be more easily socialized, “They get a lot of praise for being perfect’’ (Kathy). In the above lines Kathy wants to tell that due to being perfect and well-mannered in the school girls often avoid in taking risk boys who are more challenging in schools as they are more used to scolding and punishment. It was a decade ago when the feminism movement started to ensure that women also received the same equality. Though women are participating in every tasks and field that men do. But still one can see that when women takes a greater power than men in the area such as business, sports and politics women are pulled down by the man . They think that women are weaker gender and they should not be
In an online article titled "What is Feminist Theory" by Erwin Z, he writes about what the feminist theory is. The feminist theory, in simple terms, is a theory on the rights for women and equality for all genders. The theory involves the study of women's roles in society including their privileges, interests, rights, and concerns. It turns out that there were many different feminist theories that were released as early as 1792. Many of these publications featured limited privileges and rights of women due to wrong perceptions against them. The feminist theory can be applied to several disciplines, one being language. The feminist theory also points out the world's bias on women's bodies. According to history, men were associated with the brain while women were associated with the body.
Novelist, Christina Hoff Sommers, in her narrative essay, “The War Against Boys”, the essay explains of how boys are a year and a half behind girls in education. Sommers purpose is to convey the idea that girls are not treated as boys are when it comes to the classroom. She creates a dramatic tone in order to convey to her readers that boys and girls have a different mindset. She also arguers about how some of the blame is towards Carol Gilligan as well as organizations such as the National Organization for Women for creating a situation in which Obstacles on the path to gender justice for girls and boys are resented, both as the unfairly privileged sex.
In the Washington post the essay “Why Schools Are Failing Our Boys” relates to the study of the “boy problem” Fink’s concern is that boys have a harder time in school causing them to drop out or not to go on to college. I agree with Fink’s concern because of the mistreatment of genders and the pressure put on students as a whole. Based on class readings it has been illustrated that throughout history boys felt as though school made them feel less masculine. From what I have personally seen in school, boys are constantly being told to “man up”. I feel as though boys are expected to act a certain way and all students are expected to conform to a certain type of learning. Fink’s truthful experience through her son is an accurate model on how
Education was sex segregated for hundreds of years. Men and women went to different schools or were physically and academically separated into “coeducational” schools. Males and females had separate classrooms, separate entrances, separate academic subjects, and separate expectations. Women were only taught the social graces and morals, and teaching women academic subjects was considered a waste of time.
Feminism is the movement towards women’s equality. It fights for equal rights in the social, political, cultural and economical aspects for women. Feminism also fights for equal opportunity for women in employment and education. A feminist is someone who advocates their support for women’s rights but is not restricted to only women; anyone who supports women’s rights and equality are feminists, including men. Feminism is not only about the females, it fights for gender equality for all. Feminist movements, or Women’s movements, campaign for reforms in household issues with domestic violence, political issues with equal pay, employment and maternity leave, and reproduction rights. All feminism movements fight for equal rights, but it cannot be conquered or be made known all at once. First wave feminism was mostly about women’s suffrage and political equality in general. Second wave feminism went more in depth about the social and cultural inequalities.
The reality that boys are failing, especially through elementary, middle, and high school, strikes many as news. Richard Whitmire, author of Why Boys Fail, cites teachers’ experience that have noticed distinct differences between boys and girls. He presents multiple witnesses of boys’ and girls’ education, one of which is Kenneth Dragseth, the superintendent of schools in Edina, MN. In 2001, He noticed the disparity between the participation of girls and boys in education. He first noted the recipients of almost all academic achievements and scholarship awards were girls. Dragseth initiated specific research into the disparity between boys and girls, and discovered even more details. In a study, he further discovered that girls earned honors awards far more than men, while boys earned suspensions far more than ...
Feminism is defined as the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes. It began as an organized activity on behalf of women?s rights and interests. This concept was developed to help women earn a place in a predominantly male society. Unfortunately over the years, the intentions of feminism have become distorted, not only by anti-feminists, but also by the feminists themselves. The principle of equality for women and men has turned into a fight in which feminists wish to be better than men. Feminism has been twisted and misunderstood so much that it has become a harmful idea.
Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, fictional or philosophical dissertation. It helps to explain the main nature of gender inequality. It further explains the social roles of women in the society such as education, communication, philosophy, sociology and so on (Chodrow, Nancy 1991).